Witnessed Urine Screens in Drug Treatment: Humiliating and Harmful
Witnessed Urine Screens in Drug Treatment: Humiliating and Harmful
My heart drummed in time to my racing thoughts, which repeated an increasingly urgent command. Just. Fucking. Pee. But instead of performing, my pelvic area grew numb. Total drought. (…)
But I would never succeed. Not the next two times with that same peer counselor, nor during my two attempts with a facility nurse—nor a single drop while being watched on two occasions by a social worker who was known for calling child services on her clients.
This happened even when my bladder felt so full it hurt, when I needed to pee so badly that it gushed out as soon as I was alone and not holding a little plastic cup under my crotch. (…)
The condition is called paruresis, or colloquially “shy bladder syndrome,” and described as a form of social anxiety in which the sufferer finds it difficult or impossible to urinate around other people. (Filter, USA, 28.10.2019)